Beacon Hill
is a 19th-century downtown Boston residential neighborhood situated
directly north of the Boston Common and the Boston Public Garden. Most
people think of city living as anonymous and isolating. But this cozy
enclave, filled with nearly 10,000 people, is more like a village than
an anonymous city. It has a rich community life, with neighbors knowing
neighbors and everyone meeting on the Hill's commercial streets and at
its myriad activities.

Approximately one-half mile square, Beacon Hill is
bounded by Beacon Street, Bowdoin Street, Cambridge Street and Storrow
Drive. It is known for its beautiful doors and door surrounds, brass
door knockers, decorative iron work, brick sidewalks,
perpetually-burning gas lights, flowering pear trees, window boxes, and
hidden gardens. Its architecture, mostly brick row houses, includes the
Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian periods, as well as early
20th-century colonial revival homes and tenements. The architecture is
protected by restrictive regulations that allow no changes to any
visible part of a structure without the approval of an architectural
commission.

Beacon Hill contains a South Slope, a North Slope and a
Flat of the Hill. Charles Street is the neighborhood's main street and
is filled with antique shops and neighborhood services. The
Massachusetts State House is at the top of the Hill overlooking Boston
Common. back to top

History of Beacon HillBefore the Revolution, Beacon Hill
was pasture land with a few notable exceptions, including John
Hancock's country estate, which was demolished to make room for the
western addition to the Massachusetts State House.

The South Slope was developed in the 1790's by the Mt.
Vernon Proprietors for Boston's richest families, who by the late
1800's were being called Brahmins. South Slope streets were spacious and
carefully laid out.

One of the proprietors, who also designed several
Beacon Hill houses, was Charles Bulfinch. For a time, he was
immortalized at 84 Beacon Street in the Bull & Finch Pub, which was
the prototype for the television show, Cheers. The bar is now just
called Cheers.

The North Slope developed more organically than the
South Slope did. It grew up and down alleys and into nooks and crannies.
Its residents were former slaves, sailors, poets -- people who were, as
one wag put it, the morally emancipated. In the late 19th century, the
North Slope became home to immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe
and many of the homes were remade into tenements.

The Flat of the Hill originally was part of the
Charles River. After it was filled, it became home to blacksmiths,
shoemakers, stables and later, garages of the homes on the South Slope.
Now almost all these buildings have been renovated into living quarters.back to top

All one needs within walking distance.Charles and Cambridge Streets are
Beacon Hill's commercial streets. Charles Street is known for 40 antique
shops, home decorating shops, delectable food shops and several good
restaurants. Cambridge Street offers good restaurants, as well as two
gas stations and a supermarket, now undergoing construction in Charles
River Plaza. Both streets offer many unique neighborhood service shops,
including one of the few independent pharmacies - Gary Drug - left in
America. Cambridge Street is also the home of the venerable
Massachusetts General Hospital.back to top